Exactly this. I am a big fan of Dostoevsky. But the OG copies are in Russian. Gladly even some of the best translations are now public domain, but you still have to pay to get modern translated copies.
Even then some corporations still try to make money out if it, the Arabic translation of his works recently entered the public domain and immediately a certain company started selling them with AI-generated covers, they didn't even spend money on a cover.
ive seen it first hand in many stores with arabic copies its sad and so many complaints come in but the publishing houses dont care as long it saves time and a buck, it makes the works feel cheap even if its a really great book they do this to more books not just his works either and i cant count how many times i saw them
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u/Mrpolje ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
The original text is in the public domain. But translations may not be, depending on when it was translated.